The ocean going tug Keshena was built for
the Superior Transportation Company of Philadelphia, PA, in 1919 at Superior
Wisconsin by Whitney Brothers Company, which produced nine tugs similar to the
Keshena the year she was built.
The tug had two steam boilers that provided power to drive the 142' long
tug's single propeller. The steel hull of the Keshena was designed in the
style of an older tug, with a fair and high bow, a low waist and the typical low
round stern of a tug. A small pilot house was perched on the forward
quarter of a deck house that covered the majority of her length with a
large single smokestack dominating her profile. She was equipped with
stout bits, winches and a large capstan on the foredeck. The tug also
carried spare salvage anchors on the foredeck, where they are still found today.

On July 15th, 1942, a Southbound
convoy of nineteen merchant vessels (convoy KS 520) was spotted by the U-576 off
the coast of Hatteras. The U-boat had been badly damaged by aircraft
bombardment the previous days and was actually limping towards home when they
came across this opportunity. The commander, Hans-Dieter Heinicke, decided
to make an attack in spite of the crippled state of the boat and fired a salvo
of torpedoes. Two ships, the tanker M/V J. A. Mowinkel and the
freighter M/V
Chilore, were struck by torpedoes but both vessels were able to
continue under their own power toward more protected waters. A third
ship, the Nicaraguan freighter SS Bluefields, was not so fortunate and sunk within four
minutes after being hit by the U-boat.

Tug
Humrick was also built in the Whitney Brothers yard in August, 1919,

she is a sister ship of the Keshena.

Photo
is from the Bowling Green State University Historical Collections

After the torpedo attack the U-576
broached to the surface directly behind the merchant vessel SS Unicoi and
the armed guard gun crew aboard Unicoi immediately opened fire with the
5" stern gun. The gun crew claimed direct hits upon the conning tower
of the U-boat and at about the same time two Navy "Kingfisher" patrol planes
from Squadron VC-9 arrived at the
battle. Both aircraft attacked by dropping Mark XVII depth charges that
straddled the U-boat, which immediately sank with all hands in deep water.

Unfortunately for the two surviving
ships, in their efforts to seek safety they inadvertently entered the Hatteras
minefield which had been set to provide relief from the attacking U-boats.
Both ships detonated mines and being further damaged, had to be left at anchor
to await assistance. The crew of M/V J. A. Mowinkel abandoned the
ship thinking that the U-boat had returned and would finish them off
shortly. They were able to safely land at Ocrakoke along with the crew
from the M/V Chilore.

Enter the salvage tug Keshena.
During this time of the war, the Keshena found
herself being called out by the U. S. Navy for coastal salvage work, though she
was still a privately owned vessel manned by Merchant Mariners. She
steamed to the area off Hatteras Island to assist the two ships that had
become damaged. She arrived on the scene July 19th and went to work, after
several mine sweepers sent down from Little Creek, Virginia, had cleared the
area around the damaged vessels of any further mines. However, when
the Keshena was maneuvering under the stern of the tanker J. A.
Mowinkel, an explosion occurred in the after part of the engine room.
It was now very apparent that the mine sweeping operation was not fully
successful.

John Hampton, the engine room oiler, was
killed by the blast. Oscar Johnson, the Master of the Keshena, ordered the
crew to abandon ship and a crewman, Fred Taylor, drowned while trying to
abandon the sinking Tug, which went down in under ten minutes. The remaining 15 men of the crew were picked up
by a small launch and taken to Ocrakoke Coast Guard Station, arriving there at
1700 hours on the 19th.

After the sinking, Keshena's mast and
stack stood clear of the water marking her position. Like the F. W. Abrams
which lays nearby, this attracted the attention of pilots in training from
nearby Cherry Point Station who used her as practice bombing
target. She was also depth charged and dragged for clearance.

Tugs, due to their intended use, are
typically designed as solid vessels and the Keshena is no exception. The small vessel has endured the ravages of exploding mines, practice bombing
runs, depth charging and over 70 years under the sea. That her bow section
still stands almost 30' proud of the sand is testimony to both her design and
her builder.

The Tanker J. A. Mowinkel was
towed to port and eventually returned to service. The Freighter M/V
Chilore foundered in the approaches to the Chesapeake Bay while under
tow to the repair yard. Chilore sits in appx 60 feet of water and was wire
dragged for clearance. The Chilore wreck is occasionally visited by sport divers.

Foredeck
of Keshena with large winch and spare anchors. Dive Hatteras Photo.

Diving The Keshena

Divers will find the Keshena to be a
delightful dive site and in spite of the violence of her death she is still
fairly intact. The entire wreck remains organized and contiguous bow to
stern sitting on her keel and upright except for the stern which has a heavy
starboard list. The bow and stern sections are the most visually
interesting as they are the most intact and easy to recognize for what they are. The bow is very much still
together, even though large holes have rusted through the plating at the sand
level. This is due to the heavy framing of the vessel which is clearly visible to divers
at the first bulkhead aft of the stem. This framing and the still intact
hull sides of the bow hold up the entire foredeck with all of the fittings and
machinery still in place. Though an abandoned trawl net covers some of the
bow, it is still easy to view the two spare salvage anchors and heavy
windlass on the foredeck (visible in the photo to the left).

Port
side of stern section of Keshena.

Photo
by Capt. Dave Sommers, Dive Hatteras

Divers can
swim beyond the framing and pillars holding up the foredeck into the bow section and
look into the forepeak. Here, they may encounter large fish such as
Goliath Groupers and the like which enter this section thru the rust holes
in the forefoot.

Moving aft divers will easily follow
the hull sides of the wreck and encounter the twin boilers. Continuing
aft, you enter into
the engine room area which is somewhat disheveled and the lowest relief of
the wreck site. The stern section is very intact and lists heavily
to the starboard side. The prop and rudder are visible to
various extents depending upon the sand level near the scour at the stern.

The entire wreck can be viewed on
a single dive, due to the compact size of the wreck site. With a depth of only 80fsw, bottom times are reasonable.

Brass
and Lead lettering recovered from the stern of Keshena by Captain Dave
Sommers, Dive Hatteras

Jackknife
fish found at the Keshena stern.

Photo
by Ann Sommers, Dive Hatteras

Anemones
are found at the Keshena site in a variety of sizes and colors.
Photo by Ann Sommers, Dive Hatteras.

The
sea life at the Keshena is always varied and interesting, sometimes in
great numbers as well. In past
seasons there have been resident octopus and large numbers of anemones.
The fish life ranges from the small creatures such as the Jackknife fish pictured
here to very large snapper, groupers and sea turtles. Shark can be present, but
the wreck is not known for large schools of them.

This wreck site was studied by NOAA in 2010
as part of their efforts to expand the Monitor Marine Sanctuary to include
all of the wreck sites off the Hatteras coast. The photo mosaic of the Keshena
site was produced by NOAA as part of this effort. They also
produced a short video of their efforts which is posted here.

When researching this shipwreck,
conflicting information will be found about the Keshena's dimensions and
builder. This is due to the fact that there existed two tugboats named Keshena
during this timeframe; our Hatteras shipwreck Keshena (a Merchant
vessel) and the "second Keshena" owned and operated by the U.S.
Navy. There is no doubt as to
the identification and ownership of the Keshena sunken off Hatteras and
discussed within this page. NOAA's excellent in water research
and measurements along with their picture above showing the two large
steam boilers, confirm without doubt that the Keshena sunk here is the one
from the Whitney Brothers Yard as discussed above.

The other "second Keshena" tug was
built by Gulfport Boiler and Welding, Port Arthur, Texas, in 1939 as
the yard's hull #131. This second Keshena was 93 feet in length and Diesel
powered. She was acquired by the Navy upon her completion and
assigned number YN-37 (YTM-731 later service), serving as a net tender at Guantanamo, Cuba during
WWII. After several designation changes and years of service, the
Navy sold her into commercial service in 1947. She was named Mary L.
McAllister (McAllister Towing),
serving as a docking tug on the East Coast. Later,
in 1981, she went to the Chicago area, sold again and named the
"Seneca" by the Zenith Tugboat Company. This "second Keshena",
now "Seneca", served in the Duluth area for Zenith Tugboat until
December 2nd, 2006. While under tow by one of Zenith's other
tugs she was caught in a storm, the 3" diameter tow line parted and
Seneca swept away. She was found grounded and partially sunk on
December 3rd, about 18 to 20 miles east of Grand Marais, MI, on Lake Superior.
Later
raised and towed to Sault Ste. Marie, her ultimate fate is unknown.

Without careful examination of all the
available information, confusion and dissemination of the wrong facts will
continue to occur about this shipwreck site.

For
some other excellent photos of the Keshena visit the BFDC
web page about this wreck site.

The information on this web page was
developed from the following sources: